AC not cooling?

[tarheels]

You know when you call a repairman and he says "everything's fine" but it's not and he just dismisses you? Yeah. The AC in DH's rental house isn't cutting it. It was 81 in the house last night at 10 pm! This morning, it was only down to 74 and it was 70 outside. The landlord probably thinks we're being whiny crazy people, but something's wrong and her repairman says it's fine. The nice, appropriately sized, Lennox unit is only a year old! We keep all the blinds and curtains pulled (living in a cave is making me cranky) and turn off lights and appliances so there isn't extra heat. The filters are clean. It's not even really hot enough recently for the unit to be having a problem - it's only like 90 with light humidity.

Has anyone had this problem? What was it? If the repairman tells me it's fine one more time, I'm gonna hurt him. So I was thinking of interrogating him with "Oh, well, could it be ____?" from whatever you girls tell me

[midwest07]

When this happened in my car (air was blowing, just not cold) it was the condenser. I would imagine a house A/C has similar parts. Another idea would be to check the level of the freon/refrigerant, I think when that starts to go, it won't cool as well. These, however, seem obvious things for a repair person to check. You could always pay to have your own person come in and check things out to make sure the landlord isn't misleading you.

[mrspez07]

We had that problem where the outside unit was coming on but the furnace fan wasn't cooling it. I think it was in need of additional coolant or a flush of the coolant system. Are the copper lines between the outside unit and the inside fan getting cold?
It's been awhile, hopefully my memory is accurate.

[pitterwoo]

*only* 90 ::pitterwoo faints::

I have no suggestions, but I like your strategy.

[munkii]

When was the last time the filter was changed? Also, check for ice or lots of condensation on the pipes, it could be that the blower needs cleaned.

[magnoliablossom]

Jul 17, 2013 9:58:12 GMT -5 munkii said:

When was the last time the filter was changed? Also, check for ice or lots of condensation on the pipes, it could be that the blower needs cleaned.

This!!!!  We had this problem and this was the fix. 

Be sure to turn off the a/c unit for at least an hour or two so it can thaw out.  Replace the filter and then try it. 

[sierramist03]

You will want to make sure it has enough freon and make sure it isn't freezing over like pp said

[hski2349]

Could it be the motor in the furnace? That happened to us. The AC would run and run but the motor/fan in the furnace was not working to push the air through.

[Deleted]

Ditto the pp. This is also going to seem dumb...but all of your floor/wall/whatever you have vents open?

[MrsAxilla]

This happened to us THREE YEARS IN A ROW!!! Finally, the repairman admitted that the unit wasn't big enough for our house. He said it was working fine, but it couldn't keep up with our vaulted ceilings (big heat sink), no attic fan, crappy old windows and lack of proper insulation. He suggested we get a new unit. Our landlord laughed and laughed.

[treschic]

Same issue as pp.. unit is old and not big enough for the house. We also have vaulted ceilings so I think this does not help things. How old is the unit? We always had a problem keeping it below 80 degrees on the really hot days. It is a rental now as well.

[Deleted]

We have a repair person coming tomorrow for the same reason. It doesn't cool at all. (it was 80 degrees the other night in our bedroom). I'll let you know!